Editor’s Note: U-T reorganizes with eye toward future

We are making changes, beginning today, to build a different kind of newsroom at the Union-Tribune, one that can thrive in an environment of efficiency, fast change and multimedia demand.

Over the course of this year, these changes will lead to improvements that readers have asked for: more breadth and depth in local coverage; stronger watchdog journalism; a better, and bigger, business section; and improved presentation of world and national news.

These changes also will allow us to respond to what the market is demanding from companies like ours. We will have the ability to work effectively across many media platforms, to build stronger newspapers and better news sites for the Web, mobile and tablets.

Some of these changes are difficult for us at the U-T. But we recognize that the most important changes are happening not in our Mission Valley newsroom, but in how people consume news and information in San Diego and throughout the world.

So, our plans do not call for less of the same. We plan to do things differently.

We will have a new mix of skills in our newsroom, and, in some cases, a new mix of people. Most of our staff will remain in place. But we have new people arriving, and others departing.

Among the key additions:

• Kris Viesselman, formerly director of interactive publishing and digital product development at National Geographic, is our new managing editor and creative director. She will lead a redesign of our newspaper, which will roll out beginning in August.

• Tom Blair, formerly editor at San Diego Magazine, will return to the U-T as a columnist after a 15-year hiatus.

• Larry Nista, formerly graphics director at The Washington Post, will be our A-Section and In-Depth editor. Larry will start work next month.

• Yuri Victor, formerly product design and development manager for Gannett Digital, will bring that key role to our newsroom.

• Diana McCabe, formerly on the launch team at Entrepreneur magazine’s SecondAct.com, will be our business content leader.

This group and others are joining an experienced and talented newsroom, which was honored with 16 awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association last year, was named the best large paper in the state in 2008 and won Pulitzer Prizes in 2006 and 2009.

All of us are joining the U-T for two reasons. One is our excitement about San Diego — the character, quality of life, diversity and intellectual caliber of this region. The other is our excitement about the vision of building a lean, creative, multi-platform team that can lead the industry.

Over the past three months, the journalists at the U-T have been preparing a content strategy to guide this work. That process informed our decision-making about resource allocation, workflow and the organizational structures that are reshaping our newsroom.

We began with our community. I asked our newsroom to describe to me the region we are trying to cover. Here is their response:

“San Diego County is the jewel of the West, defined by its coast and desert, biological diversity, public parks and desirable weather. Diverse communities filled with tech-savvy, well-educated residents create a rich character that goes far beyond what most tourists see.

“The region is a hub of biotech, telecom, scientific research and outdoor recreation. It’s fueled by vibrant energy from universities, a thriving downtown and an international border, and is home to top-tier tourism attractions, two prominent professional sports teams, world-class culture and a large military presence.”

That is our starting point. As we have reorganized to cover that community, we have kept some principles in mind:

• We want to be nimble, because we are operating in an era of accelerating change. So we will flatten the management structure, speed up decision-making, and focus more of our people on reporting.

• Our digital report must be active, expert and immediate. So, the editors and reporters responsible for our local coverage will learn to publish first to the Web, and to engage you, their audiences, in real time.

• Our print report — your newspaper — should focus on analysis, narrative and design. Our print section leaders must have the ability to identify important issues of the day, and the skill and confidence to craft a report from a growing flow of interactive content. They will work in teams of section leaders, designers and quality editors, without a traditional copy desk.

• We must be closer to the community, keeping reporters in the field even as economic challenges persist throughout the market. So, we have added an entry-level role to our newsroom for journalists who will handle a high volume of straightforward stories. This will free others, particularly in our geographic teams, to spend more time digging into the issues that matter most.

• We must be able to animate our content for the Web, phones and tablets. So, we will be adding more videographers and graphics reporters to the staff.

Finally, we are changing some of the things we are covering.

Part of our strategy is to organize around topic experts — our reporters — and to give them more freedom and responsibility in shaping our coverage. In selecting the topics to cover, we have tried to identify the key areas of interest and influence at the heart of San Diego’s civic, community and cultural life. Our staff’s knowledge of the community, and the research we have recently undertaken with readers, have been our guides.

We will add a seven-person watchdog team, which will work with our beat reporters to bring you more in-depth coverage.

We will add a number of business beats — defense industry, commercial real estate, small business and clean technology — and fill a vacancy in biotech.

We will increase our resources on the top sports topics — Chargers and Padres.

We will reshape our opinion pages to provide a forum for a wide range of viewpoints.

We will have a restaurant critic, a shopping column and a traffic column, as well as coverage of pop and classical music, theater and fine art. And we will add a critic-at-large who ventures beyond entertainment and the arts.

It’s a lot of change for us to absorb, which means we will make some mistakes along the way. That’s part of our learning curve as a media company.

In all of this, we will strive to keep this promise to readers:

We will help you live well in San Diego County by

• Being the most trusted, essential and discerning source of news.

• Delivering timely, interactive and useful information when and where you need it.

• Promoting public discourse, with help from the most authoritative experts.

• Offering a distinct voice and personality that enhances our sense of place.

• Guarding the public trust.

The benefits will not be immediately apparent. But by summer’s end, you will see a different U-T both in print and online.

I believe you will like what you see. Please send me your ideas and your feedback along the way.